Monday, October 04, 2010

With a 2-1 loss to the Blue Jays, the Twins' 2010 regular season came to a close yesterday. Their final record: 94-68, good enough to clinch home field advantage for the ALDS, which will -- for the fourth time in eight years -- pit the hometown nine against the New York Yankees.

The Twins, of course, have a rather sordid history with the Yankees in October. In each of the teams' three postseason meetings, the Bronx Bombers have moved on with relative ease. This, coupled with the Twins' hideous regular-season record against New York over the past decade, has caused some fans to wonder whether Ron Gardenhire has the mettle to lead his team to victory against baseball's most legendary club.

I find the criticisms of Gardenhire based on his lack of postseason success to be shallow, at best. In no way does a 6-18 record in a tiny 24-game sample outweigh the manager's .550 record in almost 1,500 regular-season games. It's not as if he manages differently in the playoffs than he does otherwise.

The only time during Gardenhire's tenure that the Twins have lost a series in which they were clearly favored was against the A's in 2006. In that instance, the league's hottest team completely shut down offensively, scoring no more than three runs in any of the series' three-games despite holding home field advantage. Tough to blame that on the manager, in my opinion.

Outside of that series, Gardenhire's postseason history since 2002 -- when he pushed the Twins to the ALCS in his first season at the helm -- consists of three losses to Yankees teams that were vastly superior. To review:

2009: Yankees 3, Twins 0.

Frankly, Gardenhire deserves credit for keeping the Twins in this series at all. It was about as lopsided a match-up as you can get in October. The Yankees, winners of an MLB-high 103 games during the regular season who would go on to win the World Series, had the opportunity to rest up before welcoming an exhausted and undermanned Twins team to New York in Game 1.

Circumstances forced the Twins to throw rookie Brian Duensing against CC Sabathia in Game 1, a contest that no one could have expected the Twins to win. In Game 2, the Twins held a two-run lead going into the bottom of the ninth before Alex Rodriguez blasted a game-tying two-run shot off one of the league's most reliable closers. The game went to extra innings, Phil Cuzzi blew a call, and Mark Teixeira hit a walk-off homer. In Game 3, Andy Pettitte out-dueled Carl Pavano and the Twins' offense once again shut down as the Yankees completed their sweep.

Gardenhire's fault? Good luck making that case.

2004: Yankees 3, Twins 1.

Comparing this year's club to the 2004 team in any way is a slippery slope, since the two have almost nothing in common. But since we're discussing the myth that Gardenhire somehow lets up against the Yankees in the playoffs, we'll take a look at what went down.

The scenario was similar to last year; the Yankees had won an AL-high 101 games during the regular season to earn home field advantage in the first round. In Game 1, Cy Young winner Johan Santana tossed an absolute gem in Yankee Stadium, notching seven scoreless innings as the Twins went on to win 2-0. Gardenhire's team nearly took a commanding 2-0 lead in the series by stealing Game 2, but an unfortunate hop turned Corey Koskie's potential go-ahead hit in the eighth into a game-tying ground-rule double and the Twins were ultimately thwarted in the 12th inning. The Yankees beat up on Carlos Silva in Game 3 and won another tightly contested extra-inning thriller in Game 4 to take the series.

Can Koskie's bad bounce and a couple tough extra-inning losses against a team whose payroll was $130 million higher really be blamed on the manager? If you say so...

2003: Yankees 3, Twins 1.

Yet another series opened in Yankee Stadium, against a New York team that finished with the AL's best record, 101-61. The Twins won the first game 3-1 behind a brilliant collaborative effort between Santana and the bullpen. They scored only one run apiece in the next three games and, sure enough, lost them all. You can blame Gardenhire for the lineup's failures in these games if you want, or you can blame the fact that he was managing a team with serious payroll restrictions that featured Matt LeCroy as its DH and cleanup hitter.

The lineups have changed dramatically between these three teams, which is why they shouldn't be considered all that seriously when assessing the Twins' chances this year, but a few things have remained constant. The Yankees have been the best team in the American League, with 100+ wins, and have held home field advantage. The Twins have worked on restricted budgets, owned the worst record of any qualifying playoff team, and been horribly over-matched in almost every phase of the game.

None of those things are true this year. The Yankees won one more game than the Twins in the regular season, but they enter the postseason as wild card rather than AL East champ and for the first time will be forced to come to Minnesota to open a playoff series.

Where the Twins last year threw out an unknown and untested rookie to start Game 1, this year they'll rock one of the game's best starters. Where last year's lineup featured Brendan Harris as starting DH, Nick Punto as starting second baseman and Matt Tolbert as starting third baseman, this year the Twins will roll out Jim Thome, Orlando Hudson and sensational rookie Danny Valencia. J.J. Hardy, the No. 9 hitter for the 2010 Twins, posted a better OPS this year than four members of last year's ALDS Game 1 lineup did in '09 -- including the guy manning the two-hole. Among all those players I just mentioned -- Thome, Hudson, Valencia, Hardy -- none could be accused of having any sort of mental block when it comes to the Yankees.

I realize that this post will sound to some like another lame defense of Gardenhire from a guy who's expended all too much energy on the subject, but let's be clear: the Twins have been clear underdogs each of the three times they've faced the Yankees in a playoff series over the past seven years. It'd be nice if Gardy could have come out on top once, but it hardly could have been expected.

Things are different this year. As Bonnes noted last week, these Yanks are far more vulnerable than past iterations, and this time they'll have to come into Target Field to open the series. The Twins will arguably have a pitching advantage in every game, and even without Justin Morneau this lineup packs far more punch than any we've seen in any of the aforementioned series.

Hold the Twins' past postseason failures against them all you want. But don't make the mistake of thinking this year's situation bears any real resemblance to them. And don't act like the manager who's brought them here for a sixth time in nine years is a liability.

35 comments:

If Gardenhire absolutely cannot be blamed for "offensive shut downs" and the like, surely he can receive no credit for when his offense performs well, such as this regular season, for example.

To hear you say it, Gardy deserves a Manager of the Year award when his players perform, but if his players underperform, well, he's utterly blameless. This just doesn't make any sense.

Granted, some of the Yankees teams were pretty good. Yet, of the 3 years you detailed, only the '09 version won the World Series. During Gardy's tenure, that's the only time the Yankees have won the World Series. Wildly enough, it would appear a few teams with lesser payrolls were somehow able to beat the "vastly superior" Yankees.

For me, 2006 best illustrates Gardy's playoff shortcomings. He allows the team to throw a 2-day party after the last day of the season, even though they'd clinched a playoff spot a week prior. They were so happy they'd won the division - their Holy Grail - that they forgot that they had a playoff series to play. They were flat in every game against an average Oakland team.

By the way, that year, the team the Twins beat for the division miraculously managed to beat the vastly superior Yankees on the road.

It shouldn't be difficult to understand that managing in the regular season is different than the postseason. In the regular season, the attitude is "marathon not a sprint", don't fret over individual games, turn it on in September. In the playoffs, every game matters, every AB matters, every pitch matters. You need a sense of urgency. You need to go all out. Gardy, in my mind, struggles with adjusting his team's mindset.

I'm hoping this year will be different. The team has had higher goals from Day 1 than in years past. Hopefully Gardy can make the adjustments. Go Twins!

Well, if you read Keith Law's scouting report on ESPN, the Twins will probably get swept out of the 1st round by the Yankees thanks to no starting pitching behind Liriano, a thin bullpen, bad corner infield/outfield defense, a lineup neutralized by lefties, and small-ball managing by the manager.

I hope he's wrong, but it was somewhat depressing to read that scouting report.

Keith Law always picks against the Twins all the time. Even in his chats, he's down on them saying that the White Sox were going to win until they collapsed in August until he backpedeled and said the Twins would win on an easy schedule and a Chicago club that was too banged up to compete.

Problem is, he's been right the last few times the Twins made the playoffs...

Keith Law's hatred for the Twins goes back nearly a decade, the guy simply can't comment positively on anything the Twins do. A couple years ago during the "Pirahna" years he said it was all due to "luck" Now that the Twins have big bats up and down the lineup he still feels the need to shit all over them. To say they have no pitching behind Liriano is absurd, Pavano vs Pettite is coin-flip at this point as is Duensing vs Hughes.

For someone who claims to be an expert in advanced statistics Law sure likes to ignore the xFIP and FIP's of the Twins pitchers vs Yankees.

I actually think Gardy deserves some blame for starting Radke against the A's. The dude was held together by rubber bands and cortizone. It did leave Radke with twins "legend" status is my mind, I guess. I think I would trade that for a win in the post season...

As far as the Yankees this year, I say bring em' on. They have had a really rough patch throughout September. If Twins fans are bitter about the late slump, you should hear the Yank fans. The last thing I want is for the Yankees to get hot in the first round and then play them over 7 games. We could easily rock their 3 man rotation for a sweep, they have been that bad.

CC had a 4.11 ERA last month, and was wildly inconsistant, going from shut down to rocked every other game. Burnett has been a disapointment this year and only made it out of the 4'th inning twice in his last 5. Pettite has looked really shaky since comming back from injury. And Hughes, well, I have zero confidence in him.

Nobody works a count like the twins (well, the yankees do). If we stick to our disciplined, pitch count grinding approach, the Yankee bullpen is soft and delicious.

Nick - I love your blog. I am from the Iron Range, but I now live in Prague, Czech Republic. Often, the games are on at 2 or 3 am, so I rely on highlights and your writing.

First, I think it sucks that the Twins play the Yankees mainly because now they will play at night in prime time, so I will have to watch in the wee hours of the morning.

Second, I am concerned about this team. Valencia has all but stopped going the other way. Watching the Toronto series, he looked like a Michael Cuddyer-in-waiting. If it's out over the plate, he cannot do anything but roll one over to short. This wasn't the case in August, when he drove the ball to right-center. While he's not our big gun, Valencia is key, offering some semblance of a threat at the bottom of the lineup.

And, between Span and Hudson....I mean...yikes. Span has been a very mediocre lead-off guy all year. Sure, he draws walks, but hitting ~.260 just won't cut it. Same for Hudson, who seems to over-compensate for his slumps by being more gregarious on the field. That's his thing and it's fine. But, it seems to belie a lack of focus (perhaps this is why he is not wearing Dodger blue anymore).

This team still looks like the other very good Twins teams before it - just another playoff team. They have more threats, and they are certainly better than any of the previous Twins teams, but I still don't think they really instill any fear into their opponents.

I love the Twins, and I root for them some times to the detriment of my marriage. But, they look vulnerable going into the playoffs.

I think they got lucky, though, facing the Yankees. The Yanks have no pitching behind Sabathia, this is a fact. If the bats can get hot again, the Twins have a great chance.

God, I hope they aren't just another playoff team...keep up the great work...and GO TWINS!

You are probably my favorite blogger. I don't mind your man crush on Gardy. However, he has made a pee spot in his pants during the Yankees in the playoffs.

2004, game 2. Jason Kubel, was a September call up that year. His first year of big league service time. Gardy gave him 6 at bats in game 2 (his first appearance in the playoffs ever). 6 at bats to a rookie with 60 ABs total. 6 at bats in one game. Needless to say, he was 0 for 6, and I think we all can remember how he did against Rivera in 3 pitches with the game on the line.

Point number two, same game. Joe Nathan had pitched 1+ inning, twice during the 2004 season, I believe, not going over 2 innings, ever with the twins. Plus he had pitched the night before in game 1.

After the Twins battled to take a 6 to 5 lead in the top of the 12th, Gardy brings Nathan out for the bottom, his 3rd inning!!!!!!! This is not managing different than the regular season? A 3rd inning to face the number 8, 9 & 1 hitters. We know how Gardy is with his bullpen...

He strikes out the first guy, then walks the number 9 batter on 4 straight (he was gassed we could all see it)....he leaves him in there...jeter gets walked on 5 pitches, he leaves him in there to face A-rod who he gives up a ground rule double to, ties the game, in which we lose 2 batters later.

That my friend is over managing. You had Romero and Crain in the bullpen, with a few other options (Crain had been lights out, but a rookie). He used 4 people total that game besides Radke.

We win that game we go up 2-0, and win that series. The Yankees were beatable.

The AL Central has not been a good division during Gardy's tenure. Not his fault, but also explains, at least to me, that 6 division titles in 9 years, is more obtainable in our division, than any other. Maybe that explains why we suck in the playoffs.

I think this post was a way to convince yourself we can do it. I certainly hope you are right, as I am pulling for Gardy and his squad, despite him being 0-9 in his last 9 playoff games.

we have no momentum going into the playoffs this year. since we clinched the central we have played the worst baseball of the season. you may not think that any moves he makes in the playoffs are going to hurt the team, but the weeks leading up to the playoffs will. i don't care about homefield advantage, i would have liked to have seen the manager try and keep up the momentum. instead we are limping in.

Don't listen to ESPN, they barely acknowledge that the Twins exist. Valencia picked a bad time to have a little slump but I bet he will be fired up for the postseason. I have a feeling the Twins are gonna win this series against the Yanks. They are finally ready to get that monkey off their backs. I can't say why with any logical reasoning, I just feel it. Plus I have tickets for the ALCS so I really want to see the Twins get there! Go Twins!

How can you not fault Gardenhire for his 6-18 record? Yes it's a small smaple size, but his .550 career is padded by playing the AL Central (which has been very weak for during the gardenhire era)I know you just can't remove those wins, but gardenhire and the Twins success the last 9 years has come by playing in a very weak division.

I loved to see what Gardenhire's career record is against non-AL Central team.

We focus so much on the manager. But really the regular season has a ton to do with how well you manage. But come playoff time there isn't much else to be done other than reliever selection and some baserunning stuff. A manager can't be blamed if a good pitcher sucks or a good hitter sucks.

Gardy has done a tremendous job as a manager this season. I think he is generally a very good manager. He brought in a lot of new pieces and dealt with a ton of injuries and call ups and here we sit at home in the playoffs. He should be applauded.

But if we get routed by the Yanks it won't be because Gardy didn't get his lineup card set up right. It will be because of our players.

Make no mistake. The Yankees have a better record and play in a far more difficult division. They are clearly the better team, and are favored. Just as they have been every other time we've played them. If we were healthy, particularly Morneau, it would be closer.

We are the underdogs and are supposed to lose. Hopefully the players, not the managers, can play out of their socks and win this one for us.

Gardy has done most of what he can and has done well to get us here. But now it is time for the players to win this one for Gardy. NOt the other way around.

"A manager can't be blamed if a good pitcher sucks or a good hitter sucks."

But the manager should be "applauded" if a good hitter/pitcher performs well?

"The Yankees have a better record and play in a far more difficult division. They are clearly the better team."

They won 1 more game than the Twins! Yes, their division is tougher. The Twins don't make the schedule.

"We are the underdogs and are supposed to lose."

This is precisely the mentality around this club under Gardy that drives me absolutely crazy. We've deluded ourselves into believing we are inherently inferior to the "big boys", and that we have no right competing with them. Thus, we should be delighted with AL Central titles.

Do you think the Tampa Bay Rays espouse this attitude? Aw shucks, it's the Yanks, we can't compete with them. Their payroll is ALMOST A THIRD of the Yankees, and $30 MILLION LESS THAN THE TWINS. Yet they are the #1 seed in the playoffs. Look at a Rays blog. You won't find anyone saying, well, it's nice to be here, but eventually the Yank's will beat us. Nope; the attitude you'll see is, Ha! We stuck it to the big bad Yanks. Now let's go win a Series.

The series doesn't start til Wednesday, and already people are making excuses for Gardy and the club. It's absolutely pathetic.

"It's not as if he manages differently in the playoffs than he does otherwise." In my opinion i think youre wrong about this. I think in perceived big games gardy does much more managing. I think he does a lot more bunting and hit and runs early in games, stuff that might slightly increase the teams chances of scoring a run but costs them runs overall. I think he is more likely to overmanage the bullpen in big games, trusting righty-righty lefty-lefty matchups mindlessly instead of trusting high leverage situations to superior pitchers. Gardy does these things all the time but it seems like he does them more in big games. I dont think it costs the twins very many runs at all, but i think definitely does exist. And small ball is particularly ineffective against a team that scores as much as the yankees.

My other problem with this post is that the logic is so inconsistent. Gardy cant be blamed if he has lesser talent and loses. Gardy cant be blamed if he has more talent but that talent doesnt perform and they lose. But gardy is to be praise if greater talent succeeds or if lesser talent succeeds. Theres no losing scenario for gardy there. I personally believe that attribution of blame or praise on a baseball coach is almost always lazy and cliche as that attribution is almost exclusively based on the success of the team. If the twins win or lose this series with the yankee it will have a ton more to do with the ability and execution of the players and very little to do with the play of the managers.

Great post! I find the anti-Gardy rhetoric utterly ridiculous. Managers have very little impact on individual games no matter what they do. There's more chance involved (like a ball bouncing over the fence for a ground rule double, or a line drive being snagged for a double play) than anyone ever wants to admit. However, like it or not Gardy has taken the Twins to the division title nearly every year, with changing rosters and always with less payroll than the competition. I may be crazy but I think he should get some credit for that.

I'm not too optimistic about this year because too many players (even Mauer) are banged up. I also think there's a problem when the Yanks greatest strength (the longball) matches the greatest weakness on the Twins pitching staff (giving up the longball). I hope Target Field will make the difference.

The Twins used the Metrodome as an excuse for their failures for years. Now they have a brand new stadium with a brand new pay roll to go with it. The Yankees understand the effects of brand new stadiums given that they won the championship last year in theirs. They will quiver at the plate and on the mound at Target Field and the Twins will win this thing in 5 games. Joe Mauer will bat over .500 for the series with atleast 2 homeruns. Nick lets start getting these fans jacked up for a World Series run baby!!!!!!!!!!! WEEEEEEEEEWEEEEEEEEEEEE

Just so everyone is clear, the Twins payroll is #3 among playoff teams. I realize everyone is still going to use this as an excuse if we don't beat the Yankees. My wish is to have a playoff discussion regarding the Twins in which the word "payroll" doesn't come up, particularly this year, since it means absolutely nothing.

For the love of God, can we please stop talking about payroll? It doesn't matter.

We have home field advantage. We probably have a bullpen advantage AND somehow starting pitching is probably a wash. Our lineup is very solid. There is no reason why we can't win this series. None. Stop manufacturing excuses for this club before the series even starts.

I just hope it lasts 4 games so blackburn can embarrass himself in front of a national audience. I think its important that everyone have a poor taste in their mouth when it comes to blackie during the off season.

Nick Blackburn sucks and is terrible. The fact that he is making a playoff start after the year he had and has a completely unnecessary guaranteed contract that he has no chance of earning and has a big chance of becoming a major mistake, is an indictment on the organization. If the twins were down 2-1 going into game 4 and blackie was knocked out without recording an out i would be ecstatic.

What's Toronto's payroll this year? How about the Rays? Aren't the much close to Boston's payroll than anytime this decade? Well they had a losing record against all of those team this season. The lowly O's are the AL East team Twins had a winning record vs. in 2010. So other than having a bigger payroll, new stadium, some new player and about 7-10 more wins against the crummy AL Central & West what exactly is it that's different this year? It's sure not the manager's attitude heading into post season since he's sounding scared of the Yanks again.

So if I told you today I can see into the future and that as long as Gardy (who does deserve AL manager of the year by the way) manages the Twins they will have lots of regular season success, win more division titles BUT never win a single post season series... what would you want Twins Exec's to do? Sign Gardy long term or fire him and try to get someone who can win in the post season? Just a question.

Hey, Yankee fan here, just checking the Twins fans temperature heading into this series. I want to say that I have great respect for the Twins organization. For them to continuously make the playoffs with such a lower payroll is astounding. I'm hearing from you guys that their payroll is up a bit this year, but they still deserve credit for the last decade.

From what I'm reading, it seems both teams have several weaknesses and lack momentum heading into the ALDS. I'll give you all a Yankee fans view of our pitching and team in general.

Sabbathia - He's struggled of late, but most fans have absolute faith that he'll turn it up for the playoffs. He's just a gamer. Liriano is scary, though, and I wouldn't be surprised for this match-up to go either way.

Petitte - While Petitte has struggled since returning from injury, he was one of the best pitchers in baseball before the all-star break. Does that matter now? Maybe not, but Yankee fans are counting on his playoff experience to pull him through. Whether he will pull through is TBD, but Yankee fans will take their chances with Andy.

Hughes - Hughes is unproven as a post-season starter, but he really stepped up big in some important games down the stretch. He was on an innings limit this year and will be beyond that limit in the playoffs, which may hurt his game. Hughes has been fairly inconsistent in the second half, but as I said, stepped up big in some recent, important games for New York.

Yanks will probably use a 3-man rotation, but just for the sake of thoroughness, here's a run-down of their other starters.

Fans have zero faith in the following starters: AJ Burnett, Javier Vasquez, and Nova. Yankee fans hold deep venom for Vasquez, and Nova has been notorious for pitching 4 solid innings before imploding. If the Yanks make the ALCS Burnett may get a start, but that's strictly because he performed well for us last post-season. Based on this year, Yankee fans don't want to see him anywhere near a mound outside of a blowout.

Our bullpen has been solid this year. If we can get into the 7th-8th inning with a lead, our bullpen will be, while not unbeatable, hard to beat. I'd say it's a strength but definitely not something unstoppable. Mariana Rivera has been great this year, though he doesn't seem to be his dominant self at such an advanced age. Yanks are hoping playoff legend Mo will resurface one more time.

Anyway, this should be a great series. The yanks may have beaten you a few times recently, but most of us (the smart ones) know that that means nothing. We couldn't beat the Angels before last year, and the Red Sox couldn't beat us before 2004. And while I hope we beat the living crap out of you, I will wish you all good luck :-) Can't wait for Wednesday!

Hey, Yankee fan here, just checking the Twins fans temperature heading into this series. I want to say that I have great respect for the Twins organization. For them to continuously make the playoffs with such a lower payroll is astounding. I'm hearing from you guys that their payroll is up a bit this year, but they still deserve credit for the last decade.

From what I'm reading, it seems both teams have several weaknesses and lack momentum heading into the ALDS. I'll give you all a Yankee fans view of our pitching and team in general.

Sabbathia - He's struggled of late, but most fans have absolute faith that he'll turn it up for the playoffs. He's just a gamer. Liriano is scary, though, and I wouldn't be surprised for this match-up to go either way.

Petitte - While Petitte has struggled since returning from injury, he was one of the best pitchers in baseball before the all-star break. Does that matter now? Maybe not, but Yankee fans are counting on his playoff experience to pull him through. Whether he will pull through is TBD, but Yankee fans will take their chances with Andy.

Hughes - Hughes is unproven as a post-season starter, but he really stepped up big in some important games down the stretch. He was on an innings limit this year and will be beyond that limit in the playoffs, which may hurt his game. Hughes has been fairly inconsistent in the second half, but as I said, stepped up big in some recent, important games for New York.

Our bullpen has been solid this year. If we can get into the 7th-8th inning with a lead, our bullpen will be, while not unbeatable, hard to beat. I'd say it's a strength but definitely not something unstoppable. Mariana Rivera has been great this year, though he doesn't seem to be his dominant self at such an advanced age. Yanks are hoping playoff legend Mo will resurface one more time.

Anyway, this should be a great series. The yanks may have beaten you a few times recently, but most of us (the smart ones) know that that means nothing. We couldn't beat the Angels before last year, and the Red Sox couldn't beat us before 2004. And while I hope we beat the living crap out of you, I will wish you all good luck :-) Can't wait for Wednesday!

Wow, Ed, that's really telling. Hard to know what Gardy says in the clubhouse, but "we'll see" is pretty lame if you ask me. Hopefully behind closed doors the players are calm and collected, preparing like they not only want to win, but believe they can win.And I think they can! They are a little outmatched in certain areas, but it's not as lopsided as Keith Law and some others would have us believe.The Twins deserve to be here, so does their manager. Where they go from here is up to them.Both sides have significant, legitimate concerns heading into this thing. Can't wait for Wednesday night! Go Twins!

Our turrible history vs. the Yanks will only make it sweeter when we take the series 3-1 on their home turf.

I do agree that Gardy should pipe down though, and instead just play the Herb Brooks kid video on repeat inthe clubhouse.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CdJTfGiRCI> You were born to be (baseball) players ... every oneya.> This is your time. Their time is done. It's OVer.> I'm sick of tired about hearing what a great team the (Yankees) have. Screw em!> This is YOUR time. Now go out there and TAKE it.

I just lost a lot of respect for you reading the way you over simplified 2004. Leaving an obviously tired Joe Nathan in for way too many innings with a fresh Crain in the pen? I know I was screaming at the TV at that point. Kubel vs Rivera? Those were two big ones that you dont' even pay lipservice to, and if memory serves me right, there were more complaints than just those.

It's rather easy to say it isn't Gardenhire when you never weigh the opposing argument.

I was incensed with some of Gardenhire's managerial decisions during that series. My point is that the Twins were a 92-win team in a terrible division with a $53M payroll and the Yankees were a 101-win team in a great division with a $183M payroll.

There's no way the Twins should have been expected to win that series; if you're going to discredit Gardenhire for bad decisions that cost the Twins some tight games, give him credit for having them in tight games with a much better team to begin with.

Here are my picks for all 4 division series. I wrote a post on my blog (pardonmybias.com). Detailing who I picked and why. Here is the direct link: http://pardonmybias.com/mlb/mlb-division-series-predictions.htmlFeel free to comment and voice your own bias.

"Delmon Young had a breakout campaign, becoming the chief run producer in the lineup after Justin Morneau went down in early July. He drove in 112 runs during the regular season. In this series, he drove in zero runs and managed zero extra-base hits."